Moral vs. Moralistic

I though social justice was cool back when it wasn’t.  

A few years ago before “Walk The Line” came out it wasn’t cool to listen to Johnny Cash.  I remember being in the car and playing the Greatest Hits album for some teenagers in my youth group and being ridiculed.  Today, post movie, I’ve got middle school students who have all the lyrics to “I’ve Been Everywhere” memorized.  Suddenly Johnny Cash has become cool and there’s a rush to claim first dibs. 

I’ve noticed the same thing with the current interest in social justice.  I remember back in college (1998-2002) when by God’s grace, I grew a social conscience through hearing some stories, reading some books and listening to Tim Keller.  I changed my major to social work, got a job at a homeless agency and started an after school program with some other social work majors.  I remember our big concern, the thing we worked for hours planning events and advocating for was this: convincing Christians that God cares about oppressed and poor people   We planned hunger banquets, jazz concerts, prayer fasts, chapel services, and sock collections for the homeless.  I wrote essays and posted them on bulletin boards around campus.  Our smallish band of social worker majors got criticism for this.  Here were the basic criticisms. 

1.  Working for social justice distracts from the real ministry of evangelism. 

2.  Poor people are poor mostly because of laziness or drug addiction. 

3.  Rich people are rich because they work harder than poor people.  Shouldn’t we just tell people to work harder for a living. 

4.  Social justice is a liberal issue and therefore not the concern of “evangelicals”. 

Contrast this with today.  Since I was in college we’ve had movies like Hotel Rwanda and Crash come out.  We’ve had Bono and the One Campaign.  Rob Bell and Donald Miller have become hugely popular.  Shane Claiborne, the leader of a small commune in Philadelphia called the Simple Way, has been on the cover of Christianity Today and spoken at Catalyst Conferences.  Gary Haugan and IJM have gained notoriety.  Suddenly social justice is okay for mainstream Christians to care about.  All this is what I hoped and prayed would happen back in college.  Or is it?  

One of the things I learned from Tim Keller is that the heart is an idol factory.  Our self-righteousness and self-justification is always trying to find a way to get out.  I know very well how I myself feel self-righteous about these very issues.  After all I started this post by pointing out I liked it before it was cool.  But the situation with social justice (and the environment) is more dire.  Social justice hasn’t just become popular, it’s become a fashion accessory.  Suddenly it’s hip to be about the poor.  A lot of this current movement is moralistic, not moral.  We enjoy (because of our self-righteousness) criticizing unjust companies and government policies.  

The question is what have we ourselves done besides moralistic preaching and buying a product (red) shirt?  What percentage of our churches finances and energy actually goes to deed ministry?  Has any of us sacrificed our Tivo, our wardrobe, our computer, our car, our home to give more?  Have we taken pains to buy fair trade products?  Has their been a mass migration of Christians back to cities?  Are our churches more racially integrated?  Have we given a cup of cold water in Jesus name?  For me the answer isn’t a simple yes or no.  It’s sort of. 

I know as a pastor how often being angrily against something gets substituted for being passionately for something.  What I’ve learned about that kind of thing is that its short lived and has little impact.  If the current fashion of social justice only amounts to us buying a lot of white bracelets, serving at a soup kitchen once a month and digging a well in Africa then the work isn’t over.